The Marin is a sweet riding bike. It just fits me. Best bike i have ever had (had a 120mm Mount Vision pro before). 140mm are just perfect for my kind of riding. Netherlands are really flat but 140mm do-able and flat out in the Alps So i had X0 2x10 on the bike and now XX1.

On the XX1 I can say that it is sweet also. Gearshift is bang on. Even in muddy conditions like today. Never missed a front shift possibilty. The 32 chainring is perfect for my riding overhere. I have a 28 on order for the Alps. I have a biketrack around the corner with some short steep uphills. Using the 32 will let me use 9/10 of the 11 cogs behind. So allround enough. 28 on front would leave me at a low top speed. Maybe good trained people overhere could even try a 34.

To be short: You need to take a ring that fits otherwise you will be losing out on one of both ends (speed vs climbing). The range is just less compared to 2x10 and 3x10. For someone who takes a lot of different tracks maybe an issue. For me: 32 for The Netherlands, 28 for the Alps. And in the Alps i won't miss the heavy gears.When it goes downhill i will take the flow rather than pedal as much as possible.

Drivetrain is compelety quiet. Haven't had a Alps downhill ofcourse! Cleaning is also nice with a single chainring.

Sweet!! How is riding over there? No forest around? Just rocks and desert?

There is a small but rapidly growing mountain biking community in Egypt. Riding is actually pretty good on hilly and mountainous desert trails. Very rocky and unforgiving but fun to ride terrain. As you guessed, there are no trees on our trails

Which front deraileur did u use? Rear? Hollowtech 2? Hope You dont mind all the questions, new to picking parts are there are a ton of options and I want to avoid trial and error as much as possible. That is the exact frame Im building. Ps, good looking bike!

Which front deraileur did u use? Rear? Hollowtech 2? Hope You dont mind all the questions, new to picking parts are there are a ton of options and I want to avoid trial and error as much as possible. That is the exact frame Im building. Ps, good looking bike!

I also built up a size small 2009 MV for my girlfriend and you should know that SRAM low clamp front derailleurs will not fit size small frames of this model without filing down a bit of material from the clamp.

The Marin is a sweet riding bike. It just fits me. Best bike i have ever had (had a 120mm Mount Vision pro before). 140mm are just perfect for my kind of riding. Netherlands are really flat but 140mm do-able and flat out in the Alps So i had X0 2x10 on the bike and now XX1.

On the XX1 I can say that it is sweet also. Gearshift is bang on. Even in muddy conditions like today. Never missed a front shift possibilty. The 32 chainring is perfect for my riding overhere. I have a 28 on order for the Alps. I have a biketrack around the corner with some short steep uphills. Using the 32 will let me use 9/10 of the 11 cogs behind. So allround enough. 28 on front would leave me at a low top speed. Maybe good trained people overhere could even try a 34.

To be short: You need to take a ring that fits otherwise you will be losing out on one of both ends (speed vs climbing). The range is just less compared to 2x10 and 3x10. For someone who takes a lot of different tracks maybe an issue. For me: 32 for The Netherlands, 28 for the Alps. And in the Alps i won't miss the heavy gears.When it goes downhill i will take the flow rather than pedal as much as possible.

Drivetrain is compelety quiet. Haven't had a Alps downhill ofcourse! Cleaning is also nice with a single chainring.

Love it!

Betzel, what Q Factor did you get for the XX1? 156 or 168? If you have the 156 what's the clearance like on the swingarm?

I have the 156 mounted. Clearance is about 3mm each side. So very little clearance compared to the 168 X0 cranks.... But i haven't have any problems with it yet. Cranks did not hit the frame and my feet also didn't touch the frame.

I have the 156 mounted. Clearance is about 3mm each side. So very little clearance compared to the 168 X0 cranks.... But i haven't have any problems with it yet. Cranks did not hit the frame and my feet also didn't touch the frame.

Thanks for the answer. After some research I've ordered a 168mm version for the safety/versatility factor and the fact I'm still undecided if I should get an Attack Trail or the new Banshee Spitfire frame. The kit wasn't supposed to be in stock until late Feb and now my dealer say's it's already shipped and will be here this week.

My XM8 MV -
Finally gone 1x10
WIll be going out this weekend to see if the hype around the shadow + derailleur is justified.
And I did manage to get rid of the ghastly red stickers off the Rev! Did rather clash with the rest of the bikes colour scheme.

My XM8 MV -
Finally gone 1x10
WIll be going out this weekend to see if the hype around the shadow + derailleur is justified.
And I did manage to get rid of the ghastly red stickers off the Rev! Did rather clash with the rest of the bikes colour scheme.

Handsome ride (but I might be biased ). We're running almost the same drivetrain setups.

1x10 with a clutch derailleur is fantastic. You will not notice much less chainslap since this is already remedied by the Quadlink II's elevated chainstays, but what I did notice is far fewer chain dropping. I didn't drop my chain much with the XCX guide and a non-clutch XT derailleur anyway, but it did happen on larger drops or when backpedaling on technical sections.

I still can't get behind the fact that Marin ditched the Quadlink II platform. The design just worked very, very well and was rather unique.

Handsome ride (but I might be biased ). We're running almost the same drivetrain setups.

1x10 with a clutch derailleur is fantastic. You will not notice much less chainslap since this is already remedied by the Quadlink II's elevated chainstays, but what I did notice is far fewer chain dropping. I didn't drop my chain much with the XCX guide and a non-clutch XT derailleur anyway, but it did happen on larger drops or when backpedaling on technical sections.

I would have to admit that your bike's setup was the inspiration for my build
I'm hoping, and from what I've read everywhere, that the clutch derailleur should stop 99% of any chain drops.
Oh, and I got rid of the horrible red stickers off the Rev as well! The pic made me realise how much it clashed with the rest of the colour scheme of the bike.

I would have to admit that your bike's setup was the inspiration for my build
I'm hoping, and from what I've read everywhere, that the clutch derailleur should stop 99% of any chain drops.
Oh, and I got rid of the horrible red stickers off the Rev as well! The pic made me realise how much it clashed with the rest of the colour scheme of the bike.

Glad I helped inspire your upgrades

The clutch derailleur will prevent this from happening:

This was a medium-size drop and I was running the (non-clutch) 9-speed XT shadow. With the new derailleur this doesn't happen.

From the lack of noise I got on my 1st ride with the shadow I'd say you are spot on in that observation! I'd read about how quiet it could be, but was a bit sceptical about the claims, but wow, it was absolutely amazing how little noise there was. No chain slap, no derailleur clanking into the frame and most importantly, no dropped chains whatsoever.

This weekend I took my Marin Mount Vision to... Mount Vision, in Marin!

[Cross posted this to the "bikes and trail markers" thread in the Passion forum but thought it might have a different audience here.]

Most of Mount Vision (the place) is designated federal wilderness now and the trails are hiking only. Too bad. We rode some pavement and the one bike legal trail to the summit and snapped the above pictures on the way down at the first sign we saw with the name on it. There's some bike legal trail in the non-wilderness parts of Point Reyes park in the surrounding area. It is more a place to enjoy the scenery though.